Syracuse men’s lacrosse sweeps weekly ACC awards

On Tuesday afternoon, the Syracuse Orange put the icing on the cake of their 20-10 triumph over the Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC season opener.

Syracuse swept the ACC Player of the Week honors as midfielder Brendan Curry won Offensive Player of the Week and face-off specialist Jakob Phaup won Defensive Player of the Week.

Curry was one of the leaders on the day of the 20-goal offensive explosion, setting new career highs in points (7) and assists (4). He also threw in a non-career-high three goals just for fun.

Possession after possession, Curry drew a short-stick and took advantage of it by leading his defender behind the cage to initiate offense from X. As you can tell by the three goals and four assists, he did it in a variety of ways and he did it very well.

Phaup played a massive role in SU’s success on the day. Taking every face-off in the game, he went 22-of-33 while collecting a game-high eight ground balls.

Phaup’s dominance on the day was especially critical against a Virginia team that has a frighteningly good offense loaded with talent and star power. Thanks to Jakob and his face-off wingmen, the Orange were able to control time of possession (61.6%) and dictate the pace the game, a huge help to Drake Porter and the SU defense.

Additionally, Phaup was named to the USILA Team of the Week, which honors the Top-10 individual performances of the week nationally. He was joined on the team by defender Mitch Wykoff, who missed the Army game due to injury and came off the bench against Virginia to primarily defend star attackman Matt Moore, holding him to zero goals and one assist.

Women's Honors

On the women’s side, Syracuse goalie Asa Goldstock received both national and ACC honors this week, as well.

Goldstock was named the US Lacrosse Player of the Week as well as the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) and ACC Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts against Stony Brook.

She made 11 saves while surrendering only six goals to the ladies’ second straight Top-5 opponent.

In two games this season, Goldstock has a 5.68 goals-against average and a 57.7 save percentage. In total, she has more saves (15) this season than goals against (11).

Up Next

Both the men and women are back in action this Saturday at 1 PM on ACC Network Extra.

The men host the Vermont Catamounts in the first ever meeting between the programs, while the women hit the road for their ACC season opener against No. 11 Duke Blue Devils.

After last weekend’s performances by both teams, I know we all can’t wait for more.

Let’s Go Orange!!